1.1 Background of the Study
There are so many different ways of communication and language is one of the primary devices used to communicate. In everyday lives, language has a vital role as we constantly use language in everything we do (Kuswoyo, Sujatna, and Citraresmana, 2013). It helps us to deliver meaningful informations and messages that we want to share with others (Kuswoyo, 2016). Language is a crucial part in helping communication run facilely, especially when we encounter the language differences such as the language used between the speaker and the interlocutor.
Thus, translation is exceptionally essential as there are many languages used by people all around the world (Amelia, 2018). To understand each other, we have to erase the boundaries by translating the language from the source language into the target language. Without translation, we cannot communicate with other people whose language is different from ours. It is difficult for us to understand what they say or write without translation, much less to communicate.
Translation is a complicated cognitive process that requires profound analysis.
According to Kazakova (2015), the personal nature of texts under translation (authorship), the unspecified target audience, as well as interlingual and/or intercultural inequality make the translation of literary texts such a complex process. Translation is defined by Colina (2018) as the process of rendering texts from one language to another which typically entails similarity with the original
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text. In doing translation, the meaning of the text should not be distorted as it will obscure the message intended to convey. Nida (1964) asserts that a translator cannot simply translate the words using a dictionary but he has to convey the essence and sense of the message expressed in the source language by creating a new linguistic form. Jakobson (1959) describes three categories of translation: intralingual, interlingual, and intersemiotic. Intralingual translation or rewording is defined as
“an interpretation of verbal signs by means of other signs of the same language”.
Meanwhile, interlingual translation or translation proper is described as “an interpretation of verbal signs by means of some other language”. Intersemiotic translation or transmutation is delineated as “an interpretation of verbal signs by means of signs of non-verbal sign systems”. Based on those explanations above, it can be concluded that translation is dependent on the translator’s capacity to manage the processes involved in mediating two different cultures in order to produce a legible and intelligible target text (Kardiansyah, 2020).
Thus, the ability to translate, both written and spoken, is exceptionally essential to run effective communication. According to Mandasari and Wahyudin (2021), if language learners are able to communicate in the target language, it can be inferred that they succeed in learning the language. On the other hand, the inadequate communication skills indicate that they are unable to fulfill the industry’s demand for competent personnel which might affect their compatibility and make it difficult for them to compete especially in the global market (Rido, Kuswoyo, and Ayu, 2020). Aminatun, Ngadiso, and Marmanto (2018) argued that “Learning a language itself means learning to communicate with other people” and that not only spoken
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communication, but written communication is also important. Thus, it is essential for learners in learning a foreign or second language to have good translation ability to have good communication skills. Acknowledged as the international language, English plays an essential role in worldwide communication, especially in academic and professional settings (Mandasari, 2018). In Indonesia, students are obliged to learn English as a foreign language as it is not used to communicate on a daily basis (Mandasari and Oktaviani, 2018). Nevertheless, considering the growing importance of English in global communication, English is taught as a compulsory subject in Indonesia since students are in basic levels of education as it is beneficial for communication and academic purposes in which it can help students to develop their communication skills in interpersonal, transactional, and functional discourses (Ayu, Diem, and Vianty, 2017; Rido, 2020).
However, translating a language into another language is not an easy task to do.
The differences between the languages such as the grammatical or syntactic structure as well as the difference in cultural values make it hard to directly translate from one language into another (Simanjuntak, 2019). Due to the influences of the first language, EFL learners in Indonesia continue to struggle in comprehending and applying grammar principles (Sari and Gulö, 2019) and therefore linguistic interference is considered one of the primary reasons Indonesian EFL learners committing such errors (Qodriani, 2019; Gulö, Setiawan, and Sari, 2022). Besides, since students are not used to using English in a real-life context, they may struggle to construct sentences in the target language without committing errors (Anggarista and Wahyudin, 2022). Based on those justifications, it can be inferred that grammar
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is of a great importance in learning a foreign language as it enables to enhance learners’ proficiency in English, particularly in writing correct sentences (Gulö and Rahmawelly, 2018). Both proficient linguistic skills, as well as adequate knowledge about the culture of the source language and target language are required to be able to translate correctly. Nevertheless, committing errors in learning a language and during the translation process is inevitable for foreign language learners.
To quote Ringbom (1987), errors are part of language learners’ progress in acquiring the target language. Errors are important for language teachers, language researchers, and language learners themselves. For language teachers, error is important since it indicates the learners’ progress in language learning. Thus, teachers can understand what learners find as hard in studying a language and then improve their efforts in teaching. For language researchers, errors provide them insights into language acquisition as well as the process of language learning. Last but not least, for language learners, errors are of great importance because the learners can identify what is hard for them in learning a language, then they will pay attention more to their learning.
Based upon the phenomenon above, the researcher attempted to discover and identify the errors made by Indonesian EFL learners, particularly in interlingual translation. The researcher carried out this study to analyze the errors made by tenth-grade students at SMA Perintis 1 Bandarlampung. The current study centralized on investigating students’ translation in written form from Indonesian as the source language into English as the target language. This study also aimed to
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describe the possible causes or sources of errors that occurred in students’
translations. The present study is different from the previous studies mentioned in the literature review since this study is going to investigate errors made by Indonesian EFL learners in upper secondary education.
1.2 Research Questions
Based on the background above, the researcher attempted to answer the following questions:
1. What types of lexical and grammatical errors do Indonesian EFL learners frequently make in their Indonesian to English translation?
2. What are the factors affecting those errors?
1.3 Research Objectives
From the aforementioned research questions, the objectives of this study can be formulated as follows:
1. To identify the types of lexical and grammatical errors Indonesian EFL learners frequently made in their Indonesian to English translation.
2. To describe the factors affecting the errors.
1.4 Uses of the Study
The writer expects this present study can be of use to Indonesian EFL teachers to identify, describe, and explain the common and frequent errors made by students in their translation as well as investigate the possible sources of the errors made.
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1. Theoretically
The findings of this study will benefit teachers by providing insights regarding students' foreign language acquisition and development. The results can also be used as a reference for other researchers in the future who are going to conduct the same study with the purpose to identify errors, especially lexical and grammatical errors, found in EFL learners’ translations particularly from Indonesian to English.
2. Practically
The results of the study will be a helpful guide for students, teachers, and researchers. The benefits the writer hopes will arise are as follows:
a. For students: this study can aid students to improve their learning and boost their motivation to learn English so that they can avoid committing errors in translating texts from Indonesian to English in the future.
b. For teachers: the finding of this study can be used to answer whether the errors made are systematic or not and explain what can possibly cause them to occur.
As a result, teachers are able to improve their teaching specifically in teaching grammar skills. This study is also beneficial for teachers to give feedback to students based on the findings.
c. For researchers: the result of this study can be useful for the next researchers as it can be one of their references in conducting their research in a similar field of study.
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1.5 Scope of the Study
This research is to focus on the errors made by Indonesian EFL students in their translation and the reason why such errors occur. The sample was taken out from X IPA 1 and X IPA 3 students at SMA Perintis 1 Bandarlampung. The study was carried out in April 2022. In categorizing the level of error, Thornbury’s (1999) theory was used in which there are 3 levels of errors: lexical error, grammar error, and discourse error. In this study, however, the researcher only examined the errors in lexical and grammar levels. Lexical Error Taxonomy by James (1998) was used to analyze lexical errors, whereas Surface Strategy Taxonomy by Dulay Burt, and Krashen (1982) and Morpho-Syntactic Errors by Keshavarz (2012) were adapted to analyze grammar errors. The instrument consisted of 15 simple sentences and a short text consisting of 66 words in the form of Simple Present Tense and Simple Past Tense. The data was gathered by using a case study in order to obtain an in- depth examination. This study is limited to investigating students’ errors in translation. Thus, this study does not cover the analysis of students' errors in their writing or speaking.
